Pay, employment and incomes all fall furthest for young adults

The recession and its aftermath have been much harder on the young than the old. The employment rate of those in their 20s has fallen, while employment among older individuals has not; and real pay among young workers has fallen much faster than among older workers. As a result, young adults’ real incomes have fallen much more than any other age-group.

These are among the findings of a new report by IFS researchers, funded by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation and published today. The research uses data on household incomes from the government’s Households Below Average Income series, recently made available up to and including 2012–13, in conjunction with the Labour Force Survey.